More than 8,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria during 2023. A report gives details of killings, kidnappings, and forced disappearances of largely Christian populations in several parts of Nigeria.

The killings were carried out by a range of factions, including Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen who were responsible for at least 5,100 Christian deaths, Boko Haram and their allies with 500 deaths, Jihadist Fulani Bandits with 1,600 deaths and ‘Islamic-inspired’ security forces with 1,000 Christian deaths.

The killings are part of a long-standing war against Christians, dating back to 2009 when Boko Haram started its campaign in Africa’s most populous nation. Nigeria has experienced more 150,000 religiously motivated civilian deaths since 2009. In addition there has been the destruction of tens of thousands of homes of civilians, more than 18,500 Christian places of worship, 1000 religious shrines and 2,500 Christian/Traditional education centres. During the same period, over 59,000 square kilometers of land that belonged to native Christians and non-Muslims were taken over and their inhabitants displaced and expelled.

Boko Haram group and its affiliates were responsible for the kidnapping and disappearance of at least 22,500 Christians between 2009 and 2014, during which time they also demolished or set fire to 13,000 churches and 1,500 Christian schools and compelled over 1.3 million others to leave to avoid being killed or coerced into Islam. Between 2016 and 2023, more than 30,000 civilians were abducted by Islamic Jihadists and, some say, ‘Islamic-inspired’ security forces.

The Muhammadu Buhari government (2015-2023) and the following Bola Tinubu government have been complicit in the killing of Christians in Nigeria.

Of course the left-wing crackpots on here will just shrug their shoulders and post something about Israel carrying out genocide and Islam being a peaceful religion.

I was there and St Petersburg in 2019, I did not pick up that vibe, people were friendly and happy to talk, but this is just my perception.

I think I mentioned that my Russian friend who lives in the UK says that Putin despite all his nastiness is popular in Russia. Yes he rigged the elections and intimidates and kills people etc. But that doesn't mean that he does not have a supporter base.

Russia, apart from a handful of years, has never been a democracy and has always been ruled by autocrats, Putin being the latest. Many Russian still yearn for the good old days of the Soviet Union.

When I was in Uzbekistan last year I was surprised at how pro Russian they were, they did not want the Soviet Union to collapse.

This is the problem we have in the west, we assume that the rest of the world wants western style democracy and that all dictators are unpopular with their people. I am not sure that is true, I wonder how many Iraqi's regret the fall of Saddam or Libyans the fall of Qaddafi.

Edited by Badger11 (26 Mar 2024 7.45am)

One more point

The problem with this argument though is that it's very lop sided. Plenty of people, places and cultures are happy to live in an autocracy, sure! You can't and nor should anyone force someone to 'be free'.

The issue here that by writing off any country as 'better left to their autocracy' is that its hard to really gauge in a dictatorship what people really think thus there is never any real proof other than anecdotally talking to people that people do actually want an autocracy. It's hardly compelling stuff.

What's even more sinister is that when a population does then decide they'd rather not live in an autocracy by removing their autocrat, purists of this argument will rush to the tin foil hat cupboard and start spouting the loony talk about how actually they don't and everyone is actually an employee of the CIA / Mainstream Media / LGBT charity/ woke agenda / ISIS (delete as appropriate).

I honestly think getting rid of dictators in countries like Iraq, Afgan and middle east countries was the worst thing to do.

These extremists need Dicators to keep them in line.

Bush, Obama and Blair successfully reintroduced slavery into Iraq and Libya.

Once upon a time you couldn't open a newspaper or watch the news without constant propaganda concerning these entered into conflicts.

Now you could hear a pin drop about what goes on there.

Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan.

The lives and treasure wasted on all this had zero accountability back in the west. I tend to think that under an autocracy those that fail so badly wouldn't quite see the same rewards.

Edited by Stirlingsays (26 Mar 2024 12.04pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Then the Dictators all keep each other in line too .... win, win!

A stairway to Heaven and a Highway to Hell give some indication of expected traffic numbers

Redacted.

Edited by georgenorman (26 Mar 2024 1.47pm)

Tajikistan is a long, long story but it wasn't that long ago that police shaved off beards of more than ten thousand men, hijabs are banned and mosques, shall I say discouraged. There is also a large Russian involvement that you may or may not notice depending on the sources you read. There are regionalised identities and a Sunni/ Shi'ite divide in the mix.
There was originally a civil war, the secular nationalists won to cut a long story short - but the issues are not exactly over. I believe someone like Louis Theroux did a programme on it so you can watch that if you're that way inclined.

Red and Blue Army!

With Easter approaching, we should remember the 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, attacks carried out in Sri Lanka by followers of the ‘peaceful religion’. Three churches and three hotels were bombed as well as a housing complex and a guest house.

A total of 269 people were killed and 500 were injured. The church bombings were carried out during Easter services.

If you want loyalty , get a dog.

Kayla did Anfield & Old Trafford